Process of forming endless v-belts



l c. c. GMES. PROCESS 0F FORMING ENDLESS V-BELTS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2I

`Patented Oct. 5, 1923;,

ET l.

C. C. GATES.

PROCESS 0F FOHMING ENDLESS AVBELTS-l APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21. 1'919.

1,354,738. Patented 0011.5, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

III I Svi/vento@ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

enen-Lus c. GATES, or DENVER, coLonAno, AssreN'onTo THE GATES RUBBER.comrm, or DENVER., coreano, a CORPORATION or commune:

"PaocEss/or romaine muss v-BLTs.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Alipuanoa med ima ai, 1919.' seriell Nq.. 284,101.

To all 'whom/t may concern.'

Be it known that I, CHARLES C.,GATES, a

citizen of the United States, residin at the city and county of Denverand tate'of Colorado, have invented certain new and -use-fulimprovements in Processes of Formin Endless V-Belts; andl do declare thefo lowing to be a' full, clear, and exact escription .of the invention,such as will enabie others skilled intheart to which it appertains to'make andv use the same,'refer ence bein had to the accompan ingdrawings, an to the characters o reference marked thereon,l which form apart of 'this specication. l

My "nyention relates to a process of form-v ing endless belts, preferabl,of the V-type,

. or having slcpingside wal s which contact Witli the' adjacent sidescica .grooved pulley,

the inner iaceof the belt not touching the` bottom ci the groove,whereby the `belt Wedges in the ove andthus insures tight contact withte pulleys. A

The belt to b set forth in. a simultaneously ending application and iscomposed o rubberized V 'cordsgmor other suitable material, constituttie structural element, or the element W ich gives strength orbackbone`to. the belt, While the wearing feature of the belt consists 'cuiJrubberized woven fabric Whose Warp and Woolf form oblique angles to thedirection@ the belt, there being an outer ci rubber or' rubber compound.

The process will be betternnderstood by reference to a suitableapparatus for ractising or carrying out the same, and will first reinsto the drawing of this apparatus, in which: e Y

Figure l is a section taken through a battery er series of circularelements connected to form an approximately r containing V-sha edcavities `for determining the shape of t e belt. lFig. 2 is an elevationshown on a smaller scale, showing the rotate, as is required inmanufacturing these belts.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of thesame, or a view looking in thedirection of arrow 3,

belts.

F 5 is a section of the same taken on as the 1m@y 5, Fig. 4. y.

formedj'by this process is cylindrical memsaidlmember mounted toPatented oct. 5, 192e. f

showing, except in' oneinstance, the belts com leted.

Fig. 8 shows the cylindrical belt member broken between its extremities,and ready to be placed in the vulcanizer. (Thsis a section taken ontheline 8, Fig. 9. j

Fig. 9 is an end elevation of the cylindrical member with the outercasing applied reparatory. to vulcanizing the belts which bave beenformed on the cylindrical memer. l

The same reference characters indicate the sameparts in all the views.

Letthe numeral 5 designate each of a number of circular members whichare mounted on a shaft, 6, and connected by a stop, 7, near one end ofthe shaft, and a nut, 8, at the opposite end, the said members beinginterlocked by means of lugs, 9, formed thereon, and entering recesses,10, of counterpart shape, formed in the adjacent members. Theperipheries of the members 5 are so fashioned 'that the cylindricalstructure composed o a series of these members contains a number ofcircular 'll-shape cavities, i2, part of one of which is formed in eachmember. 5, so. that after the formation of the belts is completed', thelatter may be rhemoved fqrom the cylindrical .structure by separatingthe members 5 by simply un'- screwing the nut 8 and slipping thesemembers oi the'shaft. j

Assuming that a battery 5 is mounted on the shaft,

of the elements 6, and that the extremities. 13, of this shaft, whichare of counterpart s ape, formed in journals,

14 supported by'uprlghts, 15, the. cylindri- Ica member or structurewill be rotatablyV mounted and may be connected with any suitable power,as a line shaft, through the medium or' a pulley, 16, applied to one ofthese journals. As soon` as this element is mounted, one or more'sheetsof rubberized fabric, whosewoven element 17 has itswarp and Woofextending at oblique angles to the circumference of the drum orcylindrical member, will be applied to the drum,`which may be rotatedfor the purpose, durin which the said sheet or sheets of rubberizefabric will be pressed into the circular V- sha e cavities, 12, of thedrum, this rubberize fabric. being .indicated in the drawing by thenumeral 18, the direction of its warp and Woof bein `indicated by thesmall areas of shading in ig. 2 and on the inner circumference of thebelt in Fig. 5. When this rubberized fabric is applied to the drum, as

extend beyond the end just explained, it will the intermediatecavicavities and 1 between ties. 011e or more la ers, 19, of rubberizedfabric may then be p acedin the bottom of each groove and in contactwith 'the initial layer or layers, after which one or more cords, v20,may be placed within the cavity outside of the fabric) layers, 19, thesecord convolutions, one or more, being arallel with the length of thecavity an consequently parallel with the length of the belt the cordwill cavity, as indicated at 22; and this o eration -shaped cavities aresuppliedl with one or more con- .60 23 during the operation of canizer,

2l when the latter is completed.

One method of applying the cords 20 to the drum is illustrated in Fig.2, where assuming that the drum is rotated, one end of the cord may beplaced in contact with the outer fabric layer, 19, and as the drum isrotated, the proper number of convolutions will soon be placed in thefirst V- shaped cavity, and as -soon as this is done, be crossed over tothe next will be continued until ,all the volutions of the cord. As soonas this is done, the fabric and the diagonally arranged ortions, 252, ofthe cord wi l be cut midway between the intermediate cavities binserting knives in such position that their points will enter smallcircumferential grooves, 23, formed in the drum elements. As soon asthese cuts are made, the exposed ends of the cord will be properlyplaced in the cavities,

I after which the portions 24 of the rubber-l `ized fabric, which are incontact with the outer surface of the drum, will be folded 'into thecavities so that there will be two or more layers of this fabric outsideof the cord portion, or backbone, of the belt. Layers, 25, of rubbercompound may then be placed in the outerl portions of the said cavities,as best illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8. A metal casing, 26, will then beapplied to the drum, this casing being preferably composed 27, havingabutting able fastening devices. The size of this metal casing Il suchthat there is a slight s ace-say one sixt -fourth of an inch in epth,approximate y-between the casing and the drum, to permit any excess ofrubber compound to overow into the ooves vulcanization. soon as thevulcanizing process is complete, the drum is removed from thevuldrum,'and themcmbers 5 detached from the :shown at 31 with one thecasing -26 removed from the.

8 I have illustrated suitable means the drum for the purpose ofytransferring it to the vulcanizer and for removing it-theiefrom. Itshould be understood, however, that any suitable means to accomplishthis purpose may be employed. Furthermore, in order to detach the drumfrom the stationary structure illustrated in Fig. 2,- I may employ ahand lever, 29, fu'lcrumed at 30 and pivotally connected as end of oneofthe journals, 14. By properly manipulating this lever, vthe journalmay be moved axially suiiciently to disconnect its socket extremity fromthe. adjacent end of the shaft, 6, and also far enough to allow the drumto be shifted endwise suliciently to disengage its shaft from the socketextremity of the other journal.

It should be understood that the object of so applying the rubberizedfabric to the grooves of the drum that the warp and woof of the fabricshall form oblique angles to the direction of the length of the belt isto give the latter a limited degree of elasticity beyond that portion ofthe belt which may be termed its neutral axis, to permit the flex'- ingof the belt freel pulley and which flbxing will-not in any waiy injurethe material of the belt.

nstead of cords, I may employ rubberized woven fabric in which one setof threads extends in the direction of the length of the belt, sincethis element of the belt will then become substantially nonelastic andwill perform virtually the same function as the convolution' orconvolutions of cord. This element of the belt, whether composed of cordor fabric, will form the neutral axis of the belt, or the portion whichdoes not stretch -when the belt is in use. It will be understood thatwhen the belt is passing around a small pulley, its outer portion beyondthe neutral axis is stretched to some extent, but owing to the fact thatthe warp and Woof of the woven fabric in this portion of the belt formoblique angles to the length of the belt, this portion of the belt ismore flexible and more elastic and will n ot be subject to any injuriousstress or tenter, due to this fact, will wear longer because anymaterial which is not stressed will better resist abrasion and generalwear during the rformance of its function. ile the outer rtion of thebelt, due to ecv when bending over a t5 sion during the use of the belt,and the latsiderable degree of elasticity'. This com-l pression ofthe-inner portion of the belt produces a widening or enlargement of theouter face of the beltand causes its inclined sides to grip` theadjacent walls of the grooved pulley more tightly, thus preventing thepossibility of slipping.

I claim:

1. The herein described belt-making process consisting in placingrubberized material through the open periphery of a mold having adivided body, closing the peripheral opening, vulcanizing the contentsof the mold, and separating the mold body to remove thebelt.

,2. The herein described process, consisting in placing rubberized wovenfabric in a circular mold and so arranged that the warp and Woofform'oblique an les t0 the lengt of the mold, arranging ru berizedmaterial in the mold outside of the said fabric so that said materialshall-be substantially 4inelastic in the direction of the length of themold, and lacin rubberized Woven fabric outsideof t e sai 1 material,and so arranging it that the war and Woof form oblique angles to thedirection of the mold.

v3. The herein described process, consisting in placing rubberized wovenfabric in a circular mold and so arranged that the warp and Woof formoblique an les to the length of the mold, arranging ru berized materialin the mold outside of the said fabric so that said material shall besubstantially inelastic in the direction of the len h of the mold 4placing rubberized woven abric outside of the said material, soarranging it that the warp and woof form oblique angles to the directionof the mold, and finally vulcanizing the contents of the mold.

4. The "herein described process, consist- .ing in placing rubberizedwoven fabric -in a circular mold and so arranged that the fabric iselastic in the direction of the length of the mold, arran 'ng rubberizedmaterial in the Ainold outsi e of the said vfabric so that it shall4 besubstantially inelastic in the direction of the length .of the lmold andplacing rubberized woven fabric outside of the said material and soarranging it that 1t shall be elastic in the direction of the length of.the mold.

material and so arrangin it that it shall be elastic in the direction othe length of the mold, and finally vulcanizing the contents of themold.

6. The herein described process, consisting in placing rubberized wovenfabric in a circular mold and so arranged that' the fabric is elasticin` the directionof the' length of the mold, arranging rubberizedmaterial in the mold outside of the said fabric so that it shall besubstantially inelastic in the direction of 'the len mold, lacingrubberized woven abric outside o the said material and so arranging itthat it shall be elastic in the direction of the mold, and placingrubber compound outside of the llast named woven fabric.

7. The herein described process, consisting in placing rubberized wovenfabric in a circular mold and so arranged fthat the fabric is elastic inlthe 'direction of [the length of the mold, arranging rubberizedmaterial in the mold outside of the said fabric so that it shall besubstantially inelastic in the direction of the/lenfgth .of the mold,placing rubberized woven abric outside of th'e said material and soarranging it that it shall be elastic in thevdirection of the mold,placing rubber com ound outside of the last named woven fa ric, andfinally vulcanizing the contents of the mold. 8. The herein describedprocess, consisting in lacin rubberized woven fabric in a divide circuar mold and so arrangin the fabric that the warp and woof form ob iqueangles tothe length of the mold, arranging rubberized material in themold outside of the said fabric `and so that said material shall besubstantiall inelastic in the direction of the len h o the mold placingrubberized woven abric outside of the said material, and so arranging itthat the warp' and woof form obligue angles to the direction of thelength o -the mold vulcanizing the contents of the mold and mold membersto remove the belt.

In testimony `whereof I ax my si ature.

- CHARLES C. GA ES.

.separating the h of the i iio

